Joan Heaney of Upper Brookville: Helped build up oil supplier Skaggs-Walsh
Joan Heaney, who with her husband helped his family's business grow, is seen here with her granddaughter Emmeline at Christmas in 2014. Credit: Andrew Heaney
Every Sunday, Joan Heaney would sit in her Upper Brookville home and in a few hours conquer The New York Times crossword puzzle. All the boxes filled in — in pen nonetheless.
“It was definitely her religion and we were not allowed to speak to her while she was doing it,” said daughter Allison Heaney of Muttontown. “If you were in the same room, sometimes she would just gaze at you and you thought she was looking at you, but she was just coming up with the answers.”
“When you’re a kid you don’t really understand what she’s doing is a feat until you grow up and watch people struggle with the TV Guide crossword puzzle,” added her son Andrew Heaney of Millbrook. “She would just tackle this thing every Sunday like it was no big deal.”
Heaney, 77, died from complications of the coronavirus on April 13, a day that was typically reserved for her family’s annual tulip party, a celebration of the 10,000 tulips she and her husband Peter F. Heaney planted in their yard.
Born on July 8, 1942, Heaney grew up in Sunnyside, Queens and earned a full scholarship to Marymount School in Manhattan and later Marymount College, where she graduated with honors in 1964.
After their marriage in 1964, Heaney and her husband built the family business Skaggs-Walsh Inc. from a small company to a large and successful heating oil supplier based in College Point. As the couple worked to grow their business in the 1960s, Heaney also appeared on game shows where her extensive knowledge paid off — literally. She won "Match Game" and "Jeopardy," filling her home with furniture collected from her winnings.
“My husband used to call her ‘the keeper of all knowledge’ because she forgot nothing and she was very well read and retained everything that she read," said her sister Ann Fullam of Midlothian, Virginia.
Heaney enjoyed bridge and served as the president of the Matinecock Garden Club. She was a member of the St. Johnland of Kings Park Nursing Center board of trustees. She donated to her alma mater and enjoyed spending time with her children and grandchildren.
“She was funny and witty and wasn’t afraid to speak her mind at all. A genuine and a very attractive woman,” said Allison, who is the current president of Skaggs-Walsh Inc. “She drew people in. She just had these groups of friends and they all seem to have a very deep respect for her.”
A memorial Mass and service will be held at a later date, family members said. She is also survived by a son-in-law Joseph Pannaciulli of Muttontown; daughter-in-law Leslie Heaney Millbrook; and brother-in-law Brandon Fullam of Midlothian, Virginia. She has five grandchildren and is preceded in death by her husband, Peter Heaney, and sister Michelle Kelleher.